Batavia High School hosts its second annual equine/sports fundraiser

If you were getting bored watching humans play basketball, Batavia High School has the solution for you: Donkey basketball. Yup, donkeys playing basketball aka "Donkey Ball."

Batavia's class of 2016 is hosting the second annual Batavia Donkey Ball game, a fundraiser to support their class activities including prom and graduation, on Saturday, Jan. 11. Donkey Ball has been a popular small-town fundraising event since the Great Depression. Team members ride real, live donkeys while playing basketball.

Photo: donkeyball.com

Along with the donkeys, there will also be an alumni team and celebrity team, featuring several Marines, the Clermont County sheriff and Clermont County prosecutor, plus two teams featuring current Batavia Local school's teachers, staff and high school students.

Get there early for a chili cook-off. Free donkey rides available at half-time.

5:30 p.m. chili cook-off; 7 p.m. donkey ball game. $6 in advance at Batavia's high school, middle school or elementary $8 at the door; free for ages 12 and under. Game in the Batavia High School gym, 1 Bulldog Place, Batavia, bataviaschools.org.

The destruction of the
Jets two weeks ago by the Bengals saw not only the largest margin of victory
for our football team in many years, but also the emergence of second-year wide
receiver Marvin Jones.

The Bengals brought Jones
aboard in 2012, but not until the fifth round of the draft — much to Jones' disappointment.He assumed he was going to be drafted in the second round, and many scouts agreed,
also thinking he would go in the second or third round.Looking at his college stats, it’s easy to
see why.

Jones played at
University of California, Berkeley, and scored 13 touchdowns throughout his
four seasons with the team.

As a wide-receiver, he averaged 14.6 yards with the team with 156 receptions for a total
of 2,270 yards.This includes a freshmen
year when Jones only made one reception for eight yards.

With these stats, it’s
no wonder he was predicted for the second round.

In his rookie season
with the Bengals, though, Jones didn’t see much play time. He started in five
of 11 games, but this season Jones has exploded on the scene.

When the Bengals and
Jets played on Oct. 27, Jones set a franchise record of four touchdowns in a single game,
with a total of 122 receiving yards.

If the Bengals had not
called off the hounds with 17 minutes left in the game, it is safe to say Jones
very well could have tied the record for receiving touchdowns in one game.

This record is
currently held by Hall of Fame players Kellen Winslow and Jerry Rice, as well
as Bob Shaw, all of whom scored five receiving touchdowns in one game.

One comparison we can
draw from Jones to an active NFL wide-receiver is the Broncos’ Wes Welker.

Welker, who gained
mass popularity as one of Tom Brady’s favorite targets for the Patriots, sports
impressive stats with close to 10,000 career receiving yards in regular season
play.

As an established
receiver, Welker currently holds the most red zone touchdowns for this season
at eight, followed closely by Jones’ seven in the red zone.

What really made this
possible for Jones was not only his superb skill set and hands these past few
weeks, but also quarterback Andy Dalton’s trust in his many receivers.

Dalton has not played
favorites with receivers since the loss against the Browns where he threw the
ball to A.J. Green 15 times.

Jones, in an interview
with Coley Harvey for ESPN.com, said Dalton is spending extra time in film and
practice with the other receivers, making the relationship between the QB and
his many targets stronger than ever.

With the second half
of the regular season upon us, this level of cooperation in the backfield will
be vital, and if Jones’ professional career is anything like his college
career, we can expect him to continue to grow and improve alongside the team.

The Cincinnati Rollergirls, our local badass babes on wheels/internationallyranked women's flat-track roller derby team, is recruiting skaters, referees and non-skating officials for its 2014 season at the Cincinnati Gardens.

If you've ever wanted to push people around while wearing fishnets and roller skates, now is the time.

The team is holding informational sessions, skill assessments and bootcamps to prepare prospective skaters for tryouts on Jan. 12, 2014. Sessions are open to interested female skaters 18 years and older and interested referees, who can be male or female as long as they're 18. Interested skaters and referees will be asked to pay a $60 commitment fee on Nov. 3, 2013 to help cover rink rental and training costs.

Location: The Skatin' Place, 3211 Lina Place, ColerainTime: 9 a.m.-noon
At this session, we will run drills to gauge skaters' skill level and skating ability. Skaters will receive immediate feedback on what they need to work on to pass the actual tryout. We will also hold an informational meeting to answer questions, and give skaters calendar of bootcamps and Monday night practices so that they have a clear plan for how to attain their goals.

Date: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013

What: Bootcamp and Assessment Location: The Skatin' Place, 3211 Lina Place, ColerainTime: 9 a.m.-noon
We will be holding an intensive skills training bootcamp and once again check in with skaters about areas of improvement.

Dates: Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 and Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014

What: Bootcamp RefreshersLocation: CRG practice space (address to be announced)Times: To be announced
We will hold an intensive skating skills bootcamp on Friday night and a derby skills bootcamp on Saturday afternoon to get skaters back in derby mode right before the tryouts. All participants must provide their own skates and safety equipment for these bootcamps.

Date: Sunday, Jan. 12

What: TryoutsLocation: The Skatin' Place, 3211 Lina Place, ColerainTime: 9 a.m.-noon
At tryouts, skaters will be tested on the skills they learned at the bootcamps, including timed laps around the derby track, stops, skating backward, skating with others, giving and receiving hits and overall potential as a derby skater. Skaters who pass tryouts will immediately be invited to a league meeting to meet the rest of the team.

New book reveals connection between football and brain injuries

A new book
set for release Tuesday called League of
Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth is set to challenge
the NFL and their denial of a connection between concussions and football.

Written by
Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru, investigative reporters for ESPN, the book
claims the NFL has not only known about the connection between concussions in
the NFL and long-term brain injuries for about 20 years, but the league has
been actively trying to cover up these facts.

The suicides
of Junior Seau as well as former NFL players such as the Bears’ David Duerson
and the Eagles’ Andre Waters have brought this issue to the forefront of players’
and fans’ minds. All three players are thought to have suffered severe brain
damage from injuries while playing football, all of which lead to their
unfortunate suicides.

The NFL
has claimed for years they had no knowledge of any relation between the brain
injuries sustained from concussions and the deaths of professional players. Even
in the face of a recent lawsuit from players, the league held firm to their
stance.

The league
did settle the recent lawsuit out of court for $765 million, and many questions
were raised asking if the league has been honest with how much they know about the
possible link between concussions and football.

For a long
time, concussions in the professional level of football were not seen as a big
issue because no one knew of the long-term effects. Former New York Jets
defensive lineman Marty Lyons talked with Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com where
he described his own sideline concussion experience.

Lyons said
whenever a player would come off the field, the physician would hold up some
fingers, ask how many and, despite the player’s answer, the physician said, “Close
enough.” A couple plays later, or even the next play, the player would find
themselves on the field once again.

“That
wasn’t the doctors or trainers saying, ‘You’re OK,’” Lyons said in the
interview. “I’m not saying the league didn’t know, I’m not saying the players
didn’t know. It was part of the game.”

According
to the authors of League of Denial,
the cover-up of how much the NFL knew about the connection started when the
former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue created a concussion committee in 1994
to better understand the effects of concussions on players. A few members of
the committee came forward in 1995 saying concussions were not “minor injuries”
as previously thought. These claims were quickly hushed by the NFL.

Another claim
the book makes is that around 2000, some of the country’s top neuroscientists
told the NFL the big hits in football, especially those considered head-to-head,
led to not only concussions, but also what is known as chronic traumatic
encephalopathy (CTE).

Some of
the symptoms of CTE are higher rates of depression, dementia, memory loss and
brain damage.

The NFL,
rather than publishing these findings and telling players of the potential
harm, made no such effort and tried to ignore the facts.

Then in
2005, the authors report the NFL tried to persuade a medical journal to retract
articles and findings on concussions and their effects on individuals. The journal
in question refused and the findings continued to circulate without
interference.

The
authors spoke with Dr. Ann McKee, a former assistant professor of
neuropathology at Harvard Medical School and one of the leading professionals
on the link between football and brain damage, who said of the 54 harvested
brains of deceased NFL players, only two did not have CTE.

However, all
of these findings are not just exclusive to professional football. Youth, high
school and college football players are also at a high risk for
concussions.

This same
study also found of the total number of concussions from other collegiate
sports, including boys’ and girls’ soccer and basketball, football was
responsible for more than 40 percent of the concussions.

Concussions
in high school sports have even led to the death of young athletes. Jaquan
Waller and Matthew Gfeller are two football players who died in North Carolina
after head injuries sustained during high school games this season.

A study
from the University of Pittsburgh found that over the
past decade, 30-40 high school football players have died from concussions, and
the likelihood of contact sport athletes to receive a concussion is 19 percent.

Changes
are coming to the NFL, however, most notably in the minds of players. Bengals’
cornerback Brandon Ghee received two concussions in back-to-back preseason
games against the Falcons and Titans. Ghee was forced to take a five-week break
from contact because of these injuries.

In an
interview with The
Enquirer, Ghee said if it weren’t for the recent deaths and lawsuit, he
would have wanted to go back to play immediately. Now though, he’s not so sure.“After the second one you have to think about
your kids and family,” Ghee said in the interview.“You don’t want any long-lasting issues.”

Reds second baseman
Brandon Phillips is typically all smiles when the cameras are on him, but before
last night’s game against the Cardinals — and just outside the frame of a video
recorded by a St. Louis-area radio station — Phillips let the expletives fly
during a tirade against Enquirer
reporter C. Trent Rosecrans, who dared to accurately report Phillips’ shitty
on-base percentage in response to Phillips asking to bat higher in the lineup.

Phillips was moved to the second spot in the batting order for that night's
game — he has batted fourth most of the year and ranks third in the National
League in RBI. In a tweet, Rosecrans pointed out that Phillips' .310 on-base
percentage is lower than the .320 of the guy he replaced in the
two-spot in the team's lineup.

Phillips
reportedly went off on Rosecrans in the clubhouse and then continued the tirade
during the media session with Baker. Phillips, who is off camera in the video, interrupts
the interview with Baker, calling out “fat motherfucker on the end” and saying to
Baker: “Tell him you’ll have me bat eighth if you’re worried about my on-base
percentage. Fat motherfucker, make him happy.”

Phillips
says to Rosecrans, “I’m tired of you talking that negative bullshit about my
team, dog. I found out your Twitter name motherfucker, that’s a wrap.”

Rosecrans responds, “Wow, took you how many years?”

Dusty
Baker laughed and then said, “I ain’t in this; it’s between you and him.”

Rosecrans
says, “It’s between him and him.”

The Enquirerposted
a blog in response to the incident before the game was over. Enquirer sports editor Angel Rodriguez
wrote, “While we are disappointed in Phillips' reaction, we understand it is a
pennant race and emotions are high during a crucial series with a heated rival.
This isn't the first time a player has lost his temper in response to a
reporter's questions and it won't be the last. It is part of covering the team
day-in day-out.”

In
response to an outpouring of support on Facebook, Rosecrans wrote that this
kind of thing isn’t really new to the world of sports coverage but thanked
people for the support.

Rosecrans
was the Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Post and has reported for local
radio stations and websites, in addition to spending most of 2012 writing a
weekly sports column for CityBeat. He
is a 10-year member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Columnist is super offended by bad words

Reds pitcher Homer Bailey threw the second no-hitter of his
career last night and dropped an awesome F-bomb during a postgame TV interview. The comment came in response to a pretty dumb question about whether
batting in the sixth inning had something to do with him walking a batter in
the seventh, the only baserunner to reach and the only reason his no-no isn't considered a perfect game.

Bailey said: "I
just fucking walked a guy. This game is pretty tough, you know?”

Enquirer sports
columnist Paul Daugherty apparently dropped his prune juice at the sound of the
naughty word, and sports siteDeadspin ripped Daugherty’s
responses on Twitter and his blog, where he criticized Bailey's lack of class, bemoaned a grown-ass man cursing and felt for the poor cable TV viewers who had to witness it.

Video
below (Note: Bailey is covered with shaving cream because a teammate pied him
earlier, after they dumped red Gatorade all over him):

The Enquirer's blog link wasn't working for a while on Wednesday, but Sports Editor Angel Rodriguez said it was just a technical issue and that their people have been having fun with the situation, as evidenced by this "Homer F@!cking Bailey" image they posted on Facebook:

Bailey was actually the most recent pitcher in baseball to throw a no-hitter, performing the feat against Pittsburgh last September. Bailey is the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1974-75 to throw
consecutive no-hittersout of everyone in baseball.

Postgame hilarity available in video and GIF form

The University of Cincinnati baseball team might not have
had a winning record last year (24-32, 6-18 Big East), and it is currently
without a leader after the school fired longtime head coach Brian Cleary last
week. But that doesn’t mean the dudes didn’t have some fun this season — at
least after the games ended.

People of the Internet are enjoying a collection
of videos and GIFs released by UC showing players doing hilarious stuff in the
background of postgame interviews. The clips have been posted at Deadspin and
USA Today’s sports blog.

A
Hamilton County judge ordered the Ohio State High School Athletic
Association to back off a last-minute decision that blocked Walnut Hills
senior Dontonio Wingfield Jr. from playing basketball this season.Walnut Hills is the top-ranked large high school program in Southwest Ohio this year.Judge
Robert Ruehlmann said the OHSAA previously ruled Wingfield eligible
under school transfer guidelines and should not have suddenly reversed
course at the last minute.He described the Nov. 29 decision as a total change that came out of the blue.

“I granted a
restraining order that said he can play, and now there is agreement he
can play,” Ruehlmann told CityBeat on Tuesday after an emergency hearing on
the dispute.“He is eligible and we’re done.The OHSAA has worked things out with his attorneys.It is over.He is playing.”

Wingfield is the son of former University of Cincinnati Bearcats star Dontonio Wingfield, who left the university for the NBA after a single season. Wingfield Jr. is considered a the top prep shooting guard in Ohio this year.He has verbally committed to attend Ohio University in Athens.

OHSAA
officials, who in August told Walnut Hills there was no problem with
Wingfield’s eligibility, notified the school by email last week that he
used up his transfer options when he moved from Summit Country Day to
Lockland High School.His lawyer, Terence R. Coates, said there has been some inadvertent paperwork errors involving transfer rules.

“Dontonio
planned to attend a four-year college and felt the academic regiment at
Walnut Hills wouild best prepare him for being successful in college.His transfer was not motivated by athletics,’’ Coates said.He called the OHSAA ruling that made Dontonio ineligible “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."

Meanwhile,
the hearing on another student athlete, Winton Woods female guard
Alexxus M. Paige, was delayed until Dec. 7 on procedural issues.Judge
Ruehlmann said there is a likelihood the case might be settled by
having Paige return to Withrow High School to finish her senior season
this year.She had transferred to Winton Woods because of family issues.OHSAA ruled her ineligible for a year.

State athletic association says she can’t play for Winton Woods after moving to suburbs

A
Hamilton County judge plans to hold an emergency hearing next week that
will allow Alexxus Paige to challenge a rule that has kept the star
guard from playing her senior year at Winton Woods High School.

Last month, the Ohio High School Athletic Association declared her ineligible for the current basketball season.It says her family’s move into the suburban school district was not for “bona fide” reasons; it was solely to play basketball.A
lawsuit filed by Paige’s mother, Vivian Watkins, contends
Withrow High School opposed the transfer and filed an inaccuratecomplaint that led to the ban.OHSAA has not yet filed its formal response in the case.Court
officials told CityBeat its lawyer has been in touch with the judge and
indicated it will fight to keep Paige from playing high school hoops.

The 18-year-old Paige is a 5-foot-7 guard who is one of Cincinnati’s top female athletes.A post-high school college scholarship might be hanging in the balance of the court case.She
was all-conference for the past three seasons in the Cincinnati Metro
Athletic Conference, the league which includes most of the city’s public
urban high schools.(Clark Montessori and Walnut Hills are the two city schools that are in different leagues).Three years worth of Paige’s stats are available by clicking here.

Hamilton
County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman has scheduled a Dec. 4 hearing
on a request for a temporary injunction that would lift the OHSAA ban
and allow Paige to play.The
basketball player’s mom — who is acting as her own lawyer in the case —
says legitimate family issues led to the move outside the city.The
mom contends the OHSAA has refused to consider evidence showing her
daughter transferred to Winton Woods because the mom’s marriage broke
down and she moved into a suburban apartment with her two children.

“Mrs.
Watkins looked for apartments that would fit her budget and a decent
community to reside in,” the mom wrote in the lawsuit against the OHSAA.“She looked all over and finally found a place in May of 2012.Since
Alexxus was moving with her it would have been hard to transport
Alexxus back and forth to Withrow High School, so it was decided that
Alexxus would attend Winton Woods High School which is closer to Alexxus
place of residence.”

The state rule is designed to hamper schools from recruiting star athletes to pump up their sports programs.In
the past, there have been allegations that players enrolled in schools
where they did not actually reside, or had temporarily “moved” in order
to improve a team.North
College Hill was dogged for years over rumors it recruited O.J. Mayo and
Bill Walker for its state championship hoops teams.Both are now in the NBA: Walker plays for the New York Knicks and Mayo is with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Saturday semifinals and on the men’s side, the only real
intrigue comes from looking ahead to the finals, although any player
will tell you that they can never overlook the opponent immediately
across the net.

Novak Djokovic, the number two seed, goes toe-to-toe with
the sixth seed from Argentina Juan Martin Del Potro, the first man other
than Rafael Nadal to steal a Grand Slam from Federer during his amazing
run from a few years ago. Del Potro has dealt with injuries, which
slowed him down following his US Open win, but he’s back and clearly has
what it takes to reach the finals here.

Djokovic has definitely brought that return game of his,
which will be key against the taller Del Potro who takes advantage of
his height. The first set stays on-serve until Del Potro litters a serve
game with two double faults and Djokovic breaks for a 4-2 lead. From
that point, it’s a routine set of holds with Djokovic winning the set
6-3.

Djokovic breaks Del Potro during his second service game
in the second set. A pair of holds before Djokovic breaks again (Del
Potro fails to win a point during this service game) for a 5-2 lead.
Watching the latter portion of this set, its curious to see Djokovic
pushing Del Potro further and further off the baseline with punishingly
deep shots. And he pushes and shoves him right out of the match with a
final ace [6-3, 6-2].

•••

The other semifinal match is all Swiss, all the time. The
number one-seed and world’s number one player Roger Federer against
Stanislas Wawrinka. The two teamed up to capture the gold in doubles in
the Olympics and having served as practice partners over the years,
there’s a real familiarity that could make this match intriguing.

Federer comes out and it is apparent that as the man is
king of all he surveys. The crowds are overwhelmingly behind him,
granting him home court advantage, although its not like he needs it.

The first set features flashes of brilliance from each man
as they hold serve with Wawrinka confirming that he has a powerful
weapon in his serve. He logs more aces than Federer, yet Federer's net
play and shot selection more than keeps him in the match. By the
inevitable tiebreak, the all-around game of Federer leads to a 7-4 win.

The second set is more of the same as they trade holds up
through 3-games all, and then Federer sneaks in a break and a strong
hold for a 5-3 lead. The expectation is for a Wawrinka hold and then
Federer to serve it out, but an untimely double fault for Wawrinka gives
the game and match to Federer [7-6 (7-4), 6-3].

FINALS

Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic. The number one seed
versus the number two seed – the first time the two top seeds have met
in the finals at the W&S Open. This is the match everyone was
waiting for and the crowds are raucous.

On court, the action takes an unexpected turn. Federer
breaks immediately, holds and then breaks again for a 3-0 lead. He holds
again at love and unbelievably breaks once more for 5-0. Is Djokovic
hurt? He makes no calls for his coach or a trainer and simply lets
Federer serve out the first set [6-0]. Has he ever been blanked in a
set, in an event final?

When Djokovic holds to start the second set, the crowd
whoops it up, hoping to provide him with a charge. And now both players
look like the top seeds we came to see. The service games add up and
there’s the sense that a tiebreak is in store.

When it arrives, the temperature seems to rise. Heat and
excitement generate a palpable jolt. Federer grabs a mini-break on
Djokovic’s first serve and holds his two points. Before the air deflates
out of the stands, Djokovic holds and breaks back. Back and forth they
go. At 6-6, with the crowd firmly in his corner, Djokovic holds to take a
7-6 lead, but Federer scores a huge smash before taking the next two
points and the match.

He raises his arms and grants Mirka a knowing nod as he
walks over to towel off before the trophy presentation. This match sets
the field on notice that Federer is ready to extend his Grand Slam
singles title count even further and everybody, including the defending
champion, better watch out.

•••

The women’s finalists, ninth seed Na Li (CHN) and the
fifth seed Angelique Kerber (GER), have the distinction of being the
players who took out the Williams sisters on the way towards this
meeting and each of them has proven capable of slugging it out or
exerting their will through carefully constructed points.

Much like the men’s final though, this one starts off
rather one-sided. Kerber follows up an all-business hold with a quick
break of Li and another hold.Li
finally hangs on during a service game, but what has undone her thus
far is an inability to rein in her shots. Serves and groundstrokes sail
far and wide in an-ever increasing avalanche. She seems confounded by
her lack of control, but by the time Kerber has earned the first set at
6-1, Li has no answers and yet, it is Kerber who calls for an on-court
conference with her coach.

The second set offers more of the same, as Li continues to
push shots, except for her swinging half-volleys, which she nails with
surprising accuracy. Somehow, she settles into a groove and evens things
up at 3-all. Kerber lapses into a funk and before you know it, Li has
secured the second set 6-3.

Li breaks to open the third set and suddenly, the two have
completely switched games. Kerber can’t keep the ball on the court or
as the games mount, it looks like she’s frustrated by Li’s ability to
power shots all over the court. Kerber begins to stop chasing down shots
that she consistently reached in the first set. She calls for a second
pow-wow with her coach after falling down 3-0. Li aces her to take the
fourth game, but Kerber digs deep enough to win her next service game
and the crowd perks up for a minute, checking Kerber’s resolve.Unfortunately, Kerber had nothing left in the tank and she allowed Li to sweep her off the court without much resistance.

The final score [1-6, 6-3, 6-1] doesn’t quite reflect the
curious lack of sharp precise play. It will be interesting to see if
either player can use today’s effort as a springboard into the US Open.
The women’s side of the upcoming Slam appears wide open, ready and
waiting for someone, anyone to step up to the big stage, like Stosur
last year. At this rate though, it will take far more from either of
these finalists to own that epic moment.